Sirte Oil Company halts production due to lack of funds

Libya's Oil sector continues to struggle as Sirte Oil Company halts productions due to a stark lack of funding

BY Libyan Express Apr 23, 2021 - 17:45

Libya’s National Oil Corporation continues to place the blame on the halting of the country’s oil production on the central bank, demanding it provides the necessary financial arrangements [Photo: Internet]

Due to a lack of sufficient funds, the Sirte Oil Company (SOC) declared that it would be unable to continue producing oil, resulting in a 72-hour production halt.

This was revealed in a letter from the company’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, Masoud Suleiman Musa, to Mustafa Sanalla, head of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC).

The decision to halt oil production was made due to “the company’s very critical financial position and its failure to fulfil its contractual obligations to contractors,” according to the letter.

The company also attributed the suspension of oil production to an “accumulation of debts and a lack of spare parts, oils, and chemicals needed for operations,” according to the letter.

The SOC urged the Chairman of the NOC to contact the appropriate authorities to secure the funds needed to continue operations. “Scarcity of the operating and capital expenditure that has not been liquidated for more than 7 months,” the corporation complained.

Due to a budget dispute with the country’s Central Bank, the NOC declared force majeure on exports from the port of Hariga earlier this week and said it might expand the measure to other facilities. The NOC said in a statement that daily lost income could be as high as 118 million dinars ($26 million).

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